Tuesday, 30 August 2011

“No Right, No Music” in Nigeria, declares COSON

From the ever-fertile pen of Afro Leo's good friend Kingsley Egbuonu comes this little gem (thanks, Kingsley, for all your hard work for my blog, says the little lion, I do wish there were more like you around!):

"The Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has declared Thursday 1 September 2011 as a ‘No Music Day’ throughout Nigeria. The declaration was made in a statement issued by COSON president Chief Tony Okoroji on Friday, 26 August 2011. Okoroji says the day ‘will be dedicated to drawing national attention to the widespread infringement of the rights of composers, song writers, performers, music publishers and other stakeholders in the music industry in Nigeria’.

Similarly, the Nigerian Music Industry Coalition have requested that all broadcasting stations dedicate time on the same day to granting and airing interviews, debates or any other program related to artistes rights as a way of supporting the cause.

This isn’t the first time a protest of this sort would hold as it was first staged throughout the country two years ago on Tuesday, 1 September 2009, albeit with a low level of compliance.

While on the subject of COSON, its Acting General Manager Chinedu Angus Chukwuji, has embarked on a postgraduate programme in Intellectual Property Law at the African University Mutare, Zimbabwe.

COSON expects the programme – which is sponsored by the World Intellectual Property Organization - to equip Mr. Chukwuji “with every skill and knowledge necessary for effective management of intellectual property rights in the digital age and to bring him up-to-date with intellectual property administration from the global perspective.”

The Nigerian film industry is arguably the second largest in the world, while the music industry is not far off; both are rumoured to be worth $1bn in annual net revenue. Intellectual property infringement is a problem in every jurisdiction; but it plagues some on an unimaginable scale, leaving one bewilderedas to the state of economic activity in such an environment. Although infringers tend to have higher profit margins, many IPR proprietors/holders still reap their rewards in these jurisdictions using various commercialisation strategies.

Let us all (IP enthusiasts) hope that this action by COSON, and its efforts, will bear fruit in the near future, at least, in the area of copyright in Nigeria.

Jeremy

2
comments

Why won't COSON go to court to enforce its legal rights against infringing broadcasters? All COSON has been doing is engaging itself in the same publicity stunts that have in the past years practically achieve nothing for the owners of copyrights. Enough of the stunts and time to move on towards legal enforcement of the Copyright Law against infringing broadcasters if COSON is to be taken seriously. Point of correction WIPO is clearly not a party to or in partnership with COSON's publicity stunt,as wrongly stated by kingsley.

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